


Morning Hours

by weekend_conspiracy_theorist



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/F, Meet the Family, except not really because Caitlin and Joe have known each other for like two years, it's not official until somebody tells joe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 23:36:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5984857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weekend_conspiracy_theorist/pseuds/weekend_conspiracy_theorist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caitlin's an early riser. She sets up shop in the lab while no one else is around, works on projects she started long before the Flash was ever in the picture--it's a solitary time, usually. But today, Joe stops by for a chat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morning Hours

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so behind! Here's the fic for Wednesday's Flarrow Femslash Valentine prompt (sort of), two days late but hopefully not two dollars short?
> 
> Happy femslash february!

Harry and Cisco (and sometimes even Barry) may be night owls, but Caitlin is a morning bird. She likes the thin grey light seeping in through the windows, the audible hum of the machinery, the way her whole day stretches out in front of her. The lack of pressure, the soft greetings as people slowly filter in, bags under their eyes and coffees in their hands…

 

Of course, there aren't many people who work in STAR Labs these days, so the latter is more of a hearkening back, but nonetheless.

 

The morning hours are her favorite hours.

 

She strolls into STAR Labs sometime around six in the morning, breathes in the quiet air, breathes out a smile. She puts on quiet music, something gentle and kind of jazzy that Cisco had introduced her to back when Hartley Rathaway still worked at STAR Labs- in other words, just shy of an eternity ago- and settles into her groove, checking the gels she'd left to run overnight, fiddling with a few simulations.

 

Most of her _normal_ daytime hours are focused around meta human DNA testing and the other things that are demanded of her as Team Flash works to keep Central safe—and it's all, of course, incredible, edge of the line research that she's happy to be working on.

 

But it's not… _her_ research, not what she came to STAR Labs to work on, not her passion no matter how much she values being a part of something bigger and making a real, palpable difference in the world. (It's not something she ever really expected, you see; research takes so long to be peer reviewed and verified over and over, even before the time it takes for findings become implemented in the wider world. Still, she misses pushing the boundary of science _just_ for the sake of pushing the boundary of science, and not because one or another of her best friends might die.)

 

So she likes to use this time alone in the lab to progress projects that she started a long time ago and projects that she expects Barry might need someday but not any time soon.

 

No one else ever comes in until ten or later unless something meta-related is going on—so forgive her for screaming when, halfway through her 8:30 break and impromptu dance party, Joe clears his throat and says, "Caitlin, can we talk?"

 

She lays her hand over her pounding heart, spins on her heel- her literal heel, her stilettos kicked under the desk sometime around the third coffee- and lets out a shaky breath. "Jesus, Joe, I didn't even hear you coming!"

 

He smiles, but his eyes are still hard, something calculating lurking in them—and she knows that look from Iris, is on the receiving end of it every time she tries to claim she only slipped out of bed around six-thirty instead of five. She reaches to pause the music, kind of wishes she was wearing shoes for whatever is coming next.

 

"So…" Joe says, shoves his hands in his pockets. "You're dating Iris."

 

Caitlin clears her throat awkwardly, brushes a strand of hair out of her face. She and Iris haven't really been trying to hide- they'd only been on about two dates when Cisco saw them kissing outside of STAR Labs and shrieked out "Finally!"- but they haven't been broadcasting it, either. They'd spent at least an hour the night before debating whether or not Joe knew—Barry is definitely still oblivious, but Joe had been a tossup.

 

Caitlin plasters a smile over her face, tries to project coolheaded confidence. "I'm dating Iris, yes. Is that—" she loses her train of thought and clears her throat again. "Um… I feel like if we're going to talk about this then Iris should be—"

 

"I like you, Caitlin," Joe cuts in, blunt. "You're a good kid, and you've proven over and over again that you've got Barry's back. But Iris is my baby girl. If you hurt her…" he lets the sentence trail off, raises his eyebrows meaningfully.

 

"Respectfully, Joe," Caitlin says, carefully, crossing her arms tightly around her middle, "this is none of your business. And you should let everyone else- Wally, Barry, Linda, any of the other hundreds of people who would be willing to go to bat on Iris's behalf- know that it's none of their business either. She's incredible, and I know that, and I have no intentions of trying to hurt her—but if I do, that's between me and her." She pauses, huffs a laugh. "And if my ass needs to be kicked, I can guarantee you that Iris will be the one doing the kicking."

 

Joe snorts. "Yeah, I know. But I still gotta say it."

 

"I get the incentive; she's a good one." Cait leans in slightly, feels this little bit of a dopey smile that she can't quite seem to repress. "You got something right with her."

 

"I did, did I?" Joe asks, that calculated look fading fully into amusement.

 

"Oh, yes. Smart, confident, intelligent, stubborn, _plenty_ of manners. She pulls out my chair at dinner and everything." Caitlin bites back a grin, adds casually, "You really screwed it up with Barry, though." Joe lets out a peal of laughter and Caitlin laughs along with him, curls her toes against the cold lab floor. The laughter fades, Joe slips his phone out of his pocket to glance at something—maybe the time, maybe a text. Caitlin bites her lip, rocks onto the balls of her feet. "Was that, um. All you wanted to say to me?"

 

Joe shrugs, pockets his phone once more. "More or less."

 

"Great." Caitlin strides forward, grabbing his shoulder and turning him toward the door. She gives him a little nudge right between the shoulder blades, practically hears him roll his eyes. "Then get out; I'm busy, despite the exact circumstances of what you walked in on."

 

"Yeah, yeah, I gotta get to the precinct. Just…" Joe turns back to face her, catches her hand, squeezes lightly. "She seems happy. You seem happy. Try to keep it that way, for both of your sakes."

 

"Thank you for your concern, Joe." Caitlin smiles, squeezes his hand back. "You should get to work; I'll see you later, I'm sure."

 

Joe snorts, lets their hands fall apart as he begins to walk away. "Oh, inevitably. Someone somewhere's gonna think it's a grand old idea to rob a bank or murder a person when there's an honest to god superhero in the city."

 

Caitlin laughs, plops back down into her chair. There’s still a good hour or so before Team Flash will start wandering in and out in earnest, giving her plenty of time to... Hm. She spins, calls out, "Hey, Joe?"

 

He’s almost out of sight, but he stops, turns, a silent question obvious in his body language.

 

"Could you not tell Barry?" Caitlin grins. "Cisco, Iris, and I have a bet going on how long it takes him to figure it out on his own."

 


End file.
